Well-Deserved Snub

Mr P J Thomas has finally had the court quash his appointment as the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), something he should have voluntarily given up once it became a matter of controversy. As the Supreme Court itself observed, this does not necessarily reflect upon his personal integrity. What the court has held uppermost is the integrity of the institution of the CVC, which cannot, in the court’s opinion, be occupied by a person with a criminal case proceeding against him. In ruling that, of course, the court has deemed that the post of the CVC calls for higher standards of integrity than the posts of members of Parliament and of ministers , not to speak of the posts of mere secretaries to the government, all of which can be occupied by people being prosecuted for various crimes. If this makes us squirm, blame it on the dysfunctional judicial system over which the same Supreme Court presides.

Cases span decades, people waste their lives as undertrials before being pronounced innocent, a lucky few accumulate power and glory over the decades it takes for the law to take its course, before being pronounced guilty. Irony could well add on to injury, if the original palm oil import case that dates back to 1992 for imports that took place in 1991, now reaches a final resolution and finds him not guilty — a likely eventuality. The Opposition is perfectly entitled to crow over the court’s verdict. Once the leader of the Opposition had raised objections to Mr Thomas’ candidature, the government should have dropped it. Consensus should attend on institutions like the CVC and the Election Commission . Yes, the government has been rapped on the knuckles. It should accept it and move on, focusing on the job of governance. For the government, the most sensible response would be to roll out a plan to revamp our judicial system to create a situation where no case takes more than 18 months to be settled beyond the final appeal . Then, neither tainted babu nor criminal neta would slither their way into positions of responsibility. If the government moves seriously on this front, that would more than make up for the slip up on Mr Thomas.